Main
Rich Pauloo
I have coded workflows that stream real-time data from remote sensor networks1, built dashboards to bring clarity to massive datasets2, developed physical simulation models of groundwater flow and contaminant transport3, made visualizations to improve machine learning interpretability4, and built R packages5.
Completing a highly quantitative, computational PhD has taught me to how to stay organized, rapidly learn new material, use skepticism to identify opportunities for improvement, ask creative questions, effectively collaborate, and communicate to diverse audiences.
I am currently searching for positions where I can work on technical, challenging, data-intensive problems for the betterment of society.
Education
PhD. Candidate, Hydrogeology
University of California Davis
Davis, CA
2020 - 2015
- Physical simulation modeling of groundwater flow & solute transport.
- Elected representative in the Graduate Student Assembly.
- NSF fellow in Climate Change, Water, and Society IGERT.
- Built groundwaterstatement.org6, signed by over 1,000 groundwater experts worldwide.
B.S., Integrative Biology (minor in Conflict Resolution)
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
2011 - 2006
- Delivered departmental commencement speech7 to ~ 5,000 people.
Research Experience
Data Engineer
UC Water
Davis, CA
2020 - 2018
- Constructed a data processing pipeline and web dashboard8 to stream real-time groundwater data via a wireless sensor network.
Graduate Student Researcher
Fogg Lab
UC Davis
2020 - 2015
- Work with large hydrologic datasets, numerical groundwater flow and contaminant transport models, & network optimization models.
- Developed novel models of well failure, groundwater salinization, and contaminant transport in porous media.
- Regularly use R, Python, Git, Bash, MODFLOW, RW3D, Paraview, Illustrator, AWS, Linux, ArcGIS, Envi, LaTeX.
Data Lab Researcher
Computational Institute for Geodynamics (CIG)
UC Davis
2019 - 2018
- NLP, text mining, and network analysis in R on a corpus of ~600 PDFs.
- Developed an R Shiny dashboard9 to understand the corpus.
- Results published here10.
Research Assistant
Fine Lab
UC Berkeley
2012 - 2011
- Experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and writing of a report on invasive plant species in Berkeley’s Strawbery Canyon.
Biological Research Assistant
Rizzo Lab
UC Davis
2012
- Collected and managed field data to study intersection of fire, drought, and Phytophthora ramorum, the Sudden Oak Death agent.
Biological Research Assistant
Sinervo Lab
UC Santa Cruz
2011 - 2010
- Backpacked to remote alpine field sites to deploy temperature sensors, and study climate change impacts to on the American pika.
- Identified & selected high-alpine field survey sites via satellite imagery.
Teaching & Leadership Experience
Before pursuing my PhD, I spent 3 years teaching diverse audiences in environmental education. I worked in Yosemite, Thailand and the Marin Headlands, and honed skills in public speaking, interpersonal team development, group facilitation, and critical listening. Living with my coworkers in tight teams taught me patience and cooperation. During summers I guided expeditions in the wilderness and abroad with National Geographic.
Expedition Leader
National Geographic & Adventures Cross Country
Thailand
2016 - 2015
- Coordinated all aspects of multi-week international travel.
- Facilitated teambuilding, group dynamics, and cultural integration.
Site Manager & Educator/Guide
NatureBridge
Yosemite & the Marin Headlands, CA
2015 - 2013
- Coordinated with Operations to run a 200-student, 60 employee campus, which involved frequent public speaking.
- Lived and worked with a close team.
- Trained in wilderness guiding and backcountry safety.
- Served as primary liaison between the organization and clients.
Environmental Science Educator
San Mateo County Office of Education
La Honda, CA
2013 - 2012
- Designed cirriculum & taught science to diverse students.
- Worked and lived with a close team of educators.
- Frequent improvisational public speaking to large audiences.
Grants and Awards
Microsoft AI for Earth (national)
$37,571
N/A
2019
- AI-enabled forecasting of domestic well failure
AGU Outstanding Student Presentation (national)
$200 and free 2020 registration
N/A
2019
- Awarded to the top 3-5% of presenters. View presentation11.
2019 California Water Data Challenge (statewide)
$1,500
N/A
2019
- Created calwaterquality.com12, a statewide data portal that integrates and visualizes massive water quality data sets, and auto-generates water quality reports for more than 2,000 California public water systems.
- Blog post13 about the project summarizing my motivation.
NASA Data Visualization Competition (national)
$1,400
N/A
2018
- Machine learning for domestic well failure14.
2018 California Water Data Challenge (statewide)
$1,500
N/A
2018
- Used large state databases to build and calibrate a predictive model15 of domestic well failure in California’s Central Valley.
NSF-GRFP Honorable Mention (national)
N/A
N/A
2016
NSF-IGERT in Climate Change, Water and Society (national)
$111,000
N/A
2015
Selected Publications, Posters, and Talks
A low cost, open source wireless sensor network for real-time groundwater monitoring16
Water (in prep)
N/A
2020
- Calderwood, Andrew & Pauloo, R. & Yoder, Alysa & Fogg, G.E.
Assessing Impact of Outreach through Software Citation for Community Software in Geodynamics17
Computing in Science & Engineering. PP. 1-1. 10.1109/MCSE.2019.2940221.
N/A
2019
- Hwang, L. & Pauloo, R. & Carlen, J.
Domestic Well Vulnerability to Drought Duration and Unsustainable Groundwater Management in California’s Central Valley18
Environmental Research Letters 10.1088/1748-9326/ab6f10
N/A
2019
- Pauloo, R. & Dahlke, H. & Escriva-Bou, A. & Fencl, A. & Guillon, H. & Fogg, G.E.
Anthropogenic Basin Closure and Groundwater SALinization (ABCSAL)19
Under-Review (copy available upon request.)
N/A
2019
- Pauloo, R. & Fogg, G.E. & Guo, Z.
Show me the Data20
California Water Data Summit
Davis, CA
2019
An Overview of Domestic Well Vulnerability in California’s Central Valley: Opportunities for Informed Risk Assessment21
California Environmental Protection Agency
Sacramento, CA
2019
Hydraulic gradients modulate non-Fickian transport in heterogeneous porous media22
American Geophysical Union
San Francisco, CA
2019
- Pauloo, R. & Fogg, G.E. & Guo, Z. & Henri, C.V.
Anthropogenic Basin Closure and Groundwater Salinization23
Chapman Conference on Aquifer Sustainability
Valencia, Spain
2019
- Pauloo, R. & Fogg, G.E. & Guo, Z. & Harter, T.
An Interactive Mapping Interface to the California Online State Well Completion Report Database24
UC Water Annual Meeting
Sacramento, CA
2018
- Pauloo, R.
The Past Present and Future: Long-term climate trends and water management history in California25
Water Scarcity in the West
Davis, CA
2015
- Pauloo, R. & Pinheiro, M.
Selected Data Science Writing
I regularly write about data science, visualization, machine learning, and hydrology on my blog.
Using Twilio to Text Myself After Long Running Jobs26
N/A
N/A
2019
Race to the Bottom27
Exploratory data analysis and science journalism California well construction trends.
N/A
2019
Text Analysis of the Mueller Report28
Text mining and sentiment analysis.
N/A
2019
Installing the R kernel in Jupyter Lab29
How-to guide visited ~2,000 times per month.
N/A
2018
Tidy Chi Squared stats in infer30
N/A
N/A
2018
Certifications
Wilderness First Responder
N/A
National Outdoor Leadership School
N/A
Software Carpentry Instructor
N/A
Software Carpentry
N/A
Links
- https://www.richpauloo.com/project/lcsn/
- https://caccr.github.io/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/vhgr/
- https://twitter.com/RichPauloo/status/1124470765095538688
- https://github.com/richpauloo/textme
- https://www.groundwaterstatement.org
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBnvVL6XQTw&t=2s
- https://www.richpauloo.com/project/lcsn/
- https://richpauloo.shinyapps.io/cig_nlp
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8827910
- https://www.richpauloo.com/talk/2019-agu/
- http://calwaterquality.com
- https://www.richpauloo.com/post/cawdc-2019/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/talk/2018-nasa/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/well-failure/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/lcsn/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/cig/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/well-failure/
- ABCSAL]https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/abcsal/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/talk/2019-water-data-summit/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/talk/2019-cal-epa/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/talk/2019-agu/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/publication/abcsal/
- https://shiny.lawr.ucdavis.edu/shiny/oswcrd/
- https://speakerdeck.com/richpauloo/weathering-change
- https://www.richpauloo.com/post/textme/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/post/race-to-the-bottom/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/post/mueller/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/post/jupyter/
- https://www.richpauloo.com/post/infer/